The Promise of a Second Chance
by Tomaka
Summary: Horizon ruined things for the two of them. They fell apart and couldn't pick up the pieces. But an old squadmate makes a visit to his bedside in Huerta Memorial to convince him otherwise.


The love triangle between Shepard's first love interest and her/his second love interest would have been awesome. Alas it was not to be, but it certainly gave me lots of ideas to throw around in my head and put down on paper.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Mass Effect characters, creatures, or mechanoids, even though it'd be fun as hell to have a pet Reaper.

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"Mr. Alenko?" Kaidan looked to the small, timid Asari nurse. "There's someone here to see you." His bruised face brightened a little and he sat up a few inches. "Can I let them in?"

"Yeah." He said quickly, trying not to sound too excited. "Sure, send them in." He eased back on his bed and waited anxiously as the nurse darted out. It had been a few days since he'd sent his letter to Shepard, asking to see her. He knew the Normandy had been off on a mission, but he'd received word just a few hours before that it had docked with the Citadel again. He was glad Shepard had managed to get the time to stop by.

But the tall figure that entered his hospital room was not Shepard. Kaidan's face fell briefly, then his eyebrows rose in delighted surprise. "Garrus? What are you doing here?"

"Caught a rumour of some big shot human biotic who landed himself in the hospital. Sounded like someone I knew, so I thought I'd check it out." The turian's dry tone made Kaidan smile. "Heard you had a rough time on that human planet of yours. What do you call it? Mars?" Garrus leaned a hip against the foot of the bed and folded his arms across his chest. "Good to see you're still in one piece, Kaidan."

"Thanks. It's good to see you. Haven't seen you since…" Kaidan trailed off, realizing exactly when he'd last seen the turian.

"Since Horizon? Yeah." Garrus' mandibles twitched as he tilted his head back slightly. "How've you been?"

"Not bad. Alliance has kept me busy." He shrugged, but the motion sent a pang of pain through his left shoulder. Kaidan covered the cringe as best he could.

"So I've heard. Major now, huh?" The thick plating on Garrus' forehead lifted a half-centimetre, like a human raising their eyebrows.

"Heh, yeah. Anderson slapped me with that when he put me in charge of the Alliance's new biotics division." Kaidan wanted to shrug again, to seem modest, but the residual pain in his shoulder stopped him. "What about you? Heard you were allowed to leave the Normandy when Shepard turned herself over to the Alliance."

There was an indecipherable tilt to Garrus' head as he turned to look out to the Presidium. "Headed back to Palaven. Managed to convince the Hierarchy that we needed to make some preparations for the Reapers. I've been working on that since then." His dark eyes darted back to Kaidan. "Well, I _was_ working on that. Too bad the Reapers blew through half of it already." Garrus let out a huff and sat heavily in the chair next to the bed. "I was on one of Palaven's moons when Shepard…stopped by. I'm back on the Normandy now."

Kaidan gave him another surprised look. "Shepard went to Palaven?" He knew the Normandy had left the Citadel half a day after he'd been admitted to Huerta Memorial, but he didn't know where it had headed.

"The Primarch was needed for a cross-species summit. With the Reapers tearing the turian fleet apart, the Normandy was the only ship that could safely get in and rescue him." Garrus explained, his voice tight.

"I heard about Palaven. I'm sorry." Kaidan said, sincerity ringing in his words.

"And I'm sorry about Earth." Garrus returned, equally as sympathetic.

"But I'm glad you're on the Normandy. Shepard could use you." Kaidan tried to keep the envious tone out of his voice. He wanted desperately to rejoin the fight, but his doctor simply wouldn't allow it, not yet.

"Actually, that's why I'm here. Glad I managed to get to you before Shepard did." Garrus fixed him with a stony look. "I take it you've heard about her and I?" Kaidan's jaw clenched at the words and he looked away.

Of course he'd heard about it. Joker had revealed Shepard and Garrus' shared affections to him months ago, even before they'd barrelled headfirst through the Omega-4 relay. Kaidan had just hoped the subject wouldn't come up.

"Yeah, I heard." He gave a little snort and regretted how disgruntled he sounded. "Listen, after things ended between us, I get it. I'm not surprised she moved on, and I won't hold that against you or her. I'm just glad she had someone when things got rough." He didn't deserve to be jealous or envious of Garrus; he was a good turian and treated Shepard with the respect and loyalty she deserved. Kaidan had had his chance to rekindle things with Shepard, but he'd blown it on Horizon.

"Thanks, but I didn't come here to claim my territory." Kaidan gave him a skeptical look. Garrus actually looked uncomfortable. The turian shifted in his seat and rubbed his talons together. "Shepard never moved on. She was with me, sure, but she only wanted you."

Kaidan felt his lungs seize as Garrus' blunt words hung in the air. It took him a moment, but he managed to suck in a hasty breath and fix the turian with a frowning, confused look. Garrus gave a little shrug.

"She had a picture of you. Did you know that?" Kaidan didn't answer. He hadn't known. "Framed on her desk. She never let me catch her, but I know she always looked at it. She put it away once, like she was trying to move on, but that only lasted two days and then you were back again." He gave a little laugh and shook his head. There was a sadness in Garrus' voice that convinced Kaidan he was telling the truth.

"I don't get it. If you and her are together…" Kaidan tried to find the words amidst his careening thoughts. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I care about her." Garrus gave another shrug, though this one was less enthusiastic. "She needs you, Kaidan. She might never say it, but she does." He sighed and scratched at his fringe. "She's not the same person she was six months ago. I don't know if it's because of the Reapers or not, but she won't talk to me about it." The turian looked at him again, his eyes hard and serious. "But she'll talk to you."

"How can you be sure?" Kaidan asked slowly, still frowning. While the two of them had been civil and even friendly on Mars, there was little to make him believe Shepard was willing to confide in him. Garrus laughed.

"Because she still has that damned picture of you," he said, pointing a talon at him. "Only now you're next to her bed." Kaidan blinked and faltered, his eyes moving to stare aimless at his sheet-covered feet. After Horizon he'd been so convinced that things between them had been ruined; that their relationship had essentially died when Shepard went down with the first Normandy. But if what Garrus was saying was true, she had never completely given up on him. Kaidan wasn't sure if he should feel elated or guilty at the thought.

After several seconds of thick silence, Garrus sighed and stood. "I should go. She'll be here soon." A soft self-depreciating laugh came as he flared his mandibles. He walked toward the door but stopped at the end of the bed. "Just so we're clear, Kaidan. She's going to ask you back onto the Normandy. For her sake, say yes." He stabbed his talon into the mattress next to Kaidan's foot. "And if she decides she doesn't want you, that's fine. But if you break her heart? Well…" Garrus gave another shrug. "I'll break your neck." He finished with that light, casual tone of his.

Kaidan blinked at him and said nothing as he watched him walk away. "Get yourself back on your feet, Kaidan, and I'll see you on the Normandy." Garrus said with a casual wave, slipping through the door.

As soon as he was gone, Kaidan's head landed back on the pillow. Garrus wasn't the type to make such serious threats outside the battlefield, and it only went to show how much the turian truly cared for Shepard's wellbeing. And from what he had said, Kaidan suspected that Garrus' feelings for Shepard were possibly as deep as his own.

In the relative quiet of the hospital room, Kaidan closed his eyes and forced himself to go over every conversation he'd had with Shepard when they were on the Normandy during the escape from Earth, and later on Mars. If there was any truth behind Garrus' claims that Shepard still cared about him, surely he would have seen it. But, Kaidan realized with a tired huff, maybe he'd been too worried that she was still with Cerberus to notice.

He would need to hear it from her to be certain of everything. Did she still care for him? Did he even have a shot of earning her affection? Maybe she had feelings for him, but had decided to move on in favour of Garrus? The turian believed otherwise, but Kaidan needed to hear Shepard say the words before he would risk getting his hopes up.

Suddenly feeling tired, Kaidan ran a hand over his face and winced at the painful throb in his nose. Over the quiet hiss of the ventilation system he heard the hospital room door open. He looked up, both hoping and dreading that it would be Shepard. But it wasn't, and he didn't know if it was relief or disappointment that settled in his stomach.

"Snack time already?" Kaidan said, smiling at the kind orderly who carried a tray over to him. He though he might be able to make more sense of recent events with food in his stomach, but the idea came to an abrupt halt when he saw the beige, gelatinous paste that filled his bowl.


End file.
